1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to greeting cards in general, and particularly to a method and apparatus for the display of greeting card designs and the on-site manufacture and sale thereof.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Currently, greeting, or social expression, cards are usually manufactured in large quantities by various manufacturers at locations remote from the point of purchase or retail outlet. Social expression cards include greeting cards, invitations, announcements, and the like and are referred to herein as "greeting cards" or "social expression" cards. After manufacture, the cards are shipped, either directly or through wholesale distributors, to a variety of retail outlets, such as specialty card shops, drug stores, grocery stores, and the like where they are displayed and sold to retail customers.
One of the most significant problems associated with the remote manufacture of greeting cards is the very large amount of inventory needed at the point of sale, and the space required to properly display the inventory of greeting cards. For example, most greeting, or social expression, cards are displayed on card racks that group the cards into a number of categories, or fields, in an attempt to assist a customer in locating the type of card he or she desires. Typically, signs are attached to the display racks at various points to indicate the general category, or field, of the cards in that particular section. Such fields usually include cards for birthday, wedding, anniversary, graduation, and other occasions. Another display scheme utilizes color coding of certain sections of the display rack to indicate the particular field of that section. No matter what the display scheme, however, a large display rack is needed to expose a sufficient portion of the face of each card to allow easy scanning by the customer of the various cards available in a particular category or field.
For many years, greeting, or social expression, cards were generally confined to themes relating to traditional holidays and special occasions, such as birthdays or anniversaries, and consequently did not require a particularly large display rack. Furthermore, since such traditional holidays are seasonal, a portion or section of the display rack could be used alternately for different holiday occasions. In this manner, the section of the display rack used to display Christmas cards in December could be used to display Valentines cards in February. Therefore, this multiple use of display space allowed most retail stores to maintain a large enough inventory of greeting cards to remain competitive while requiring a relatively small amount of space to be reserved for the display rack.
Recently, however, new categories, or fields, of greeting cards have been introduced that have themes relating to friendship, business and other everyday activities. In addition, greeting cards have been introduced that cater to people of various ages, personalities and lifestyles. While this increase in the number of fields of greeting cards has resulted in a greater range and selection for the customer, it has also created a number of problems.
First, the increase in the number of fields has placed ever increasing demands on the amount of display space a retail outlet must have to remain competitive. For example, it is not unusual for a card specialty store to have in excess of 5,000 different card designs occupying over 200 lineal feet of display. A typical drugstore likewise often averages 160 lineal feet, while a supermarket averages, because of space restrictions, about 45 feet. Stores which lack the space required to display a large inventory of cards have been known to lose customers to competitors who are able to display more cards.
Second, this increase in display area has made it difficult and time consuming for a card buyer to locate an appropriate card for a given occasion. It is also increasingly more difficult for a card buyer to direct his or her search to a specific greeting card field, since the specific field is quite often dispersed throughout the display rack, depending on the particular card manufacturer.